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Richard LH

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  1. Richard LH
    That asking rather a lot Lizbie !
  2. Richard LH
    Yes please ! You can always PM me to avoid offending the Magic Circle...😉
  3. Richard LH
    Some random thoughts from last night..... I do admit to having favourites! William Bracewell being one - he has had a great year - so in the interests of objectivity, capybara, I thought he landed awkwardly twice in his solo as the Prince. But he recovered and I thought otherwise he was a wonderful support for the lovely Fumi Kaneko. Meaghan Grace Hinkis danced Clara rather than Emma Maguire....I don't think that change had been flagged in advance unless I missed it. She dances very well but I felt perhaps she tended to portray more of the young girl throughout rather than the blossoming young woman finding romance. I didn't get the same thrill from her and Acri as from other pairings (Hayward/Campbell, O'Sullivan/ Sambe). For the first time, I started to think they were tending to intrude on the divertissements rather than enhance them. It was great to see Mendizabal perform the Arabian dance. Leo Dixon was one of her gentlemen, and I had noticed him earlier as a very good "Clara's Partner". I liked Saunders' Drosselmeyer as a contrast to Avis - he was rather more avuncular and less mystical, but still pulled off some great magic (including the odd different trick). I still can't work out how a handkerchief transforms into a stick when it is thrown in the air! And he moon-walked into his curtain call to great applause. It is good to see some of the Artists coming though and performing with more experienced/higher ranked dancers - so for example we got Annette Buvoli and Chisato Katsura along with First Soloists Melissa Hamilton and Beatriz Stix-Brunell as the Leading Flowers. Finally the Corps again lit up the stage ... completing a wonderful year, from Willis, to Swans, to Shades, to Symphony-in-C-ers, and now to Snowflakes. Such hard work and training, producing such beauty!
  4. Richard LH
    This was just something I happened to notice in this particular performance. I am certainly not qualified to apply any technical standards, exacting or otherwise, to any of these brilliant dancers!
  5. Richard LH
    Well...having seen them on opening night and also at an encore cinema screening last night, I am not sure they were absolutely technically perfect - I thought I noticed the odd thing that seemed not quite right - for example in the main PDD the first jump of the SPF onto the Prince's shoulder looked to be aborted before the usual complete turn on his shoulder followed by a fish dive (if that is the correct terminology). But they are such accomplished performers that they are able to maintain the general flow and grace of the sequence even if it does not go quite to plan.
  6. Richard LH
    Perhaps, although the transformation might work better if it is sudden...and as valentina says, you may have to think about something a bit more complex. However as I know next to nothing about choreographic technique, or the dance you are working on, I am not sure I can help further! Hope it goes well though. It is also an old favourite of mine to try and pick out on the guitar.
  7. Richard LH
    Welcome to that club Lizbie ! From your report, I am rather miffed that that she is not Irina in the cast I will be seeing (04 Jan)😞. I will have to wait now to see her in Two Pigeons, (02 Feb).
  8. Richard LH
    Hi Aixsta, and welcome ! Would it help to think more about the lyrics? "Blackbird singing in the dead of night Take these broken wings and learn to fly All your life You were only waiting for this moment to arise. Blackbird singing in the dead of night Take these sunken eyes and learn to see All your life You were only waiting for this moment to be free. Blackbird fly blackbird fly Into the light of the dark black night" Perhaps there are ideas there about about pain, restriction, darkness and blindness, being transformed through music and dance into joy, flight, freedom, light and sight?
  9. Richard LH
    Have just caught up with this , and was about to post about it! Yes he has amazing tap skills, and I believe he is a pretty accomplished ballet dancer as well! This was the first in a series of fascinating documentaries about the history of music and dance in films.
  10. Richard LH
    Very pleased for William Bracewell - he is getting some well deserved slots. Looking forward to seeing him on Friday 21, with Kaneko as the SPF.
  11. Richard LH
    ..... for Winter Dreams Good day attending a very entertaining Backstage Tour (our guide was particularly humorous) - we saw Nunez being coached for Winter Dreams by Darcey Bussell, and Soares by another gentleman, whilst Akane Takada and Sarah Lamb, amongst others, passed right by us in the viewing room. They are as delightful up close as seen from afar! We also saw Laura Morera in the street. I am feeling rather like a groupie now...
  12. Richard LH
    Your link doesn't seem to be working.
  13. Richard LH
    No thanks! So much better these days to be able to view in high quality, and to record, or watch later online, programmes we can't see when broadcast. I really don't think nostalgia is what it used to be....😄
  14. Richard LH
    Techno geeks may correct me, but I am thinking that for many of us it means any live TV viewing or recording of the TV transmission, on Christmas Day, won't be in HD due to the local transmitter not providing Freeview channel 106 (only channel 9); although presumably the programme will be in HD on the iPlayer for up to 30 days afterwards. After that, we will have to wait for the Blu-Ray to come out for HD viewing.
  15. Richard LH
    But it now seems BBC4 is the honoured channel ... 19:00 on Christmas Day https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0001qzc
  16. Richard LH
    It was Cuthbertson/Bonelli, Hayward/Campbell, with Choe as the Rose Fairy. I would recommend the DVD or preferably the Blu-Ray - it's a lovely production that deserves multiple viewings!
  17. Richard LH
    I also love the RB's version with the interactions between Drosselmeyer, Clara and Hans-P/Nutcracker taken right through Act 1 and Act 2 - the narrative makes perfect sense to me (well at least as much as any fairytale/ballet does!). The RB version to me is a magical tale of a young girl discovering romance whilst at the same time improving her dancing repertoire and skills, by learning from the best! I haven't seen the BRB version, but so far other versions I have seen, albeit only as recordings, (including the Mariinsky and the San Francisco Ballet) tend to include various characters that rather annoy me, or have poorer sets, choreography and/or plot development. Some of the best bits of the RB version for me....Clara already joyfully dancing on pointe for her family as the scrim rises after the street scene....Clara dancing with the rest of the children...Drosselmeyer's magic tricks ...then seemingly conjuring Clara into a dream state..Clara's wonder as the tree emerges.... her grief turned to joy as Hans-P comes to life and they dance their beautiful PDD.....Clara and Hans-P in and out of the snowflake flurries.....the Angels and their seamless gliding motion...the way Clara and Hans-P are welcomed by the SPF and Prince...the divertissements and how Clara and Hans-P join in with them....of course the SPF and Prince sequences...and the recognition at the end between Clara and Hans-P in the street with Clara finding she still has the necklace the SPF gave her (so it wasn't just a dream after all!)
  18. Richard LH
    Well you have me there Frank... seeing Miss Francesca Hayward as Clara last year at the cinema, partnered by the wonderful Mr Alexander Campbell, was what brought me back into a love of ballet. I am not really expecting anyone else to enchant me more than those two in this production. Indefinable charisma, as you say. That said, I do think Miss Anna Rose O'Sullivan is a brilliant young dancer who will hopefully have many opportunities to develop her acting skills further.
  19. Richard LH
    Well you just did ! I liked Hamilton but I think I prefer the formidable Itziar Mendizabal in this role. I love her startling and intense facial expressions! © Royal Opera House
  20. Richard LH
    Wow that sounds like a nice touch. Double curtain calls! Much love for them all in the auditorium as well.....
  21. Richard LH
    I particularly liked the use of all those scrims !
  22. Richard LH
    Superb opening night!
  23. Richard LH
    A fuller cast list for tonight's opening performance is now here: https://www.roh.org.uk/events/whm7y Not complete though, as far as I can see - Rose Fairy, for example?
  24. Richard LH
    Yes I noticed this ridiculous review too -- completely wrong-headed and actually quite annoying in terms of erroneous inferences drawn from dubious observations. I have posted a reply on the reviewer's site.
  25. Richard LH
    Some information suggests Swan Lake will be on BBC2 not BBC4 - if so that would be even better.
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